Lessons from Space: Woody Hoburg’s Advice for Educators and Future Engineers

From Model Rockets to NASA

Bela Power: What were your experiences as a kid with model rockets and how (if at all) did they influence your career path?

Woody Hoburg: Growing up, my parents many times bought me rockets at the hobby store, rocket kits to build and we would take them out and try to find fields to fly them in. It was a significant part of my childhood. And then later, around when I was entering high school, I think we saw a newspaper ad for the Tripoli Rocketry Association, and we went out to a local launch. I had no idea how big the hobby or amateur rockets could get but I saw my first J motor at that launch, and I was blown away. And so, at that moment, I started searching the internet. The internet was just becoming a thing at that time, and I found some forums where people were talking about building rockets, and I basically started building larger and larger rockets and getting really involved in the sort of amateur, home-built side of rocketry. High-powered rockets and ended up kind of taking over my parents’ garage with my rocketry activities, building my own parachutes, electronics, fiberglass layups, just doing all of that type of work and going out and flying some big projects at some of the big amateur rocketry events. And that took up much of my high school years.

Advice for Future Engineers and Astronauts

Bela Power: What would you tell the students out there that might want to follow in your footsteps, either with engineering, becoming an astronaut, or both?

Woody Hoburg: Yeah, I’m a big believer in getting your hands dirty. So, a big part of my childhood was – I mean I still remember learning to solder at a really young age and just being interested in the wood shop and building things and so for me engineering is about the technical math and science, but it’s also about the hardware. Bringing those two things together is the most fun part so it doesn’t really matter what you’re interested in. For me, it was rocketry, and I loved building rockets and learning about how they fly and making them better. That inspired me to be an engineer in college and really dig into the kind of technical subject matter. But I think for young kids that are interested, just go get your hands dirty with something you’re interested in and excited about.

Bela Power: What are the most important skills that students should work on now, if they do want a career in engineering or maybe at NASA one day?

Woody Hoburg: It’s hard for me to give specifics on specific skills because engineering is so broad. That’s actually one of the reasons I ended up in aerospace engineering. I think at some level I couldn’t pick among all the interesting engineering disciplines but at the end of the day I really loved things that fly – airplanes, rockets, these big, beautiful machines that we have somehow found a way to engineer and create. It’s pretty amazing. So, through aerospace engineering I got exposed to electrical engineering, computer science, writing code, all the different disciplines that go into building a machine that can fly in the air or in space. But I think, to answer your question, about what skills – maybe just don’t be afraid to dive in and learn about something you’re really interested in. There’s really no wrong path. It’s all about just diving in, and getting your hands dirty, and starting to learn and explore.

Bela Power: That’s really great advice, not being afraid to try something new. I see that a lot with students, where they say, “I’ve never done rocketry. I’ve never done robotics,” and it seems intimidating but once you start, you’re going to love it! It’s going to be easier than you thought it was.

Woody Hoburg: Absolutely, that experimentation. It’s huge.

Encouraging Hands-On STEM Learning

Bela Power: What advice do you have for teachers who want to incorporate more hands-on STEM learning into the classroom and don’t know how, or maybe don’t know the impact it could have on their students?

Woody Hoburg: Well, we’re on a rocketry interview today so I do think rocketry is a great example of something that can be brought into the classroom. I love it because it allows hands-on work, and this is real physics, and you get to see the real results of your work. It’s exciting to go out and launch a rocket, whether it’s a small model rocket or going out to watch humans flying to space. No matter what, it’s a great classroom tool. And plenty of other similar options. I’m really big about hardware and seeing those tangible results. We spend too much time on screens these days and actually building something physical and taking it out and flying it in the real world… robotics is another good example. I think building robots is a really great way to bring engineering into the classroom, and computer science as well. So many exciting options out there right now that I think could get students excited.

Bela Power: Do you see students nowadays have moved away from doing hands-on things that maybe you got to do when you were younger in school, and they are losing a little bit of that skill that used to be in schools?

Woody Hoburg: Well, I don’t know. I don’t have data on which direction that trend is going, but what stands out to me is that those options absolutely exist today. So, if you want to go build some hardware, if you want to go build a rocket and fly it, if you want to go build a robot… I mean, when I was starting out in rocketry, it was really hard to find information or to find other people that were doing some of the work that I was looking to do. The details on doing a composite layup, that was just starting to filter onto the internet, information about that type of thing. These days you can find all the information you want and get started. It’s so easy to get started. There’s just nothing stopping you today if you wanted to get your hands dirty and start playing with some engineering.

Bela Power: That’s great! Can you remember any engineering activities that you did in school? It sounds like you had a lot in your free time, that was something you were really into, but what about in school?

Woody Hoburg: I think we actually did do some model rocket work in one of my classes in high school, which was fun. I was already building big rockets at the time, so it was entertaining for me. In college, I studied engineering so there were many engineering design projects. I built some airplanes. Later, I actually taught at MIT and so my research group, we built a pretty large aircraft for the Air Force. A large, unmanned airplane capable of flying for five days so that project had tens of students involved in designing and building the aircraft. It was actually a pretty incredible accomplishment, what the students pulled off there. I do think at the college level, there’s lot of opportunities, especially if you’re studying engineering. In grade school, I certainly had opportunities here and there, depending on teachers and so on.

Reflections on Spaceflight and Teamwork

Bela Power: That’s good. I agree, it really does depend on the teacher. If the teacher is wanting to seek that out and bring it to their students, it definitely can be an individual endeavor. So, what is the most exciting project you have worked on or team you have been a part of?

Woody Hoburg: Well, I mentioned the airplane that my group at MIT built, so that was pretty exciting from the point of view of building something and fielding it, bringing it into the world. We developed a new machine and that was really fun. I’m lucky to be in the Astronaut Office right now, so I do have some pretty cool opportunities through that. Back in 2023, when I did my first mission up to the International Space Station. I mean, it’s pretty overwhelming being part of the team that’s doing that work. During my mission, I got to install a couple solar arrays out on the truss of the ISS and upgrade two of the power channels, we added 30 kilowatts to two of the power channels. So, getting to do those spacewalks and upgrade the International Space Station hardware itself, again, getting my hands on the hardware, it was really fun and a big honor to get to do that.

Bela Power: That’s incredible. So, is there anything about that mission that stands out  to you that was really fun or just something that surprised you? I’m sure being up there in space is overwhelming and super exciting, is there anything that really stood out aside from getting to work on the actual International Space Station yourself and fix it with your own hands?

Woody Hoburg: The spacewalks were definitely a highlight. That’s really fun. That’s where we get in the suit and go outside the vehicle in the vacuum of space and do upgrades and repairs. I did two of those during my mission. The mission itself is pretty long. I did a six-month mission, 186 days. So, it’s a long time up there. What stands out to me as far as fun for the duration of the mission, was just spending time with my crew. I was lucky to have an absolutely amazing crew. We had a lot of fun together, and we also had a lot of fun working with Mission Control on the ground and getting the mission done. Six months is a long time. The novelty of being in space is very real. It’s very exciting, it’s amazing to be in space. It’s also a long time – six months. And so, after a while, you get up every day and you’ve got work to do. It’s a busy schedule. You want to get it right and so, it’s helpful to have a good crew along for that journey with you so it can be enjoyable.

Bela Power: It sounds like time management and organization also would be big skills up there and it’s definitely something we tell students: “You have to be keeping to your schedule, and you need to be organized.” So, it sounds like you have a lot of that in space, too.

Woody Hoburg: Yeah, we’re actually lucky in some sense, in that there is an entire console in Mission Control that essentially plans our day for us. So, the schedule is built before I get up and I just execute the schedule.  And yes, it’s important to stay on time, but the decisions of what to prioritize and the things I’m going to be doing each minute, there’s no stress about what should I be working on, you just go execute the plan.

Final Words for Teachers and Students

Bela Power: Nice! My last question, is there anything else you would like to share or say to all the teachers out there?

Woody Hoburg: If we’re talking to teachers specifically, I’ll just say thank you. My little brother is a high school teacher, so I know a bit about what the work is like and it’s not an easy job, but it sure is an important job. I was lucky to go to a really amazing public school growing up. I had on average, really, really exceptionally good teachers that were passionate about exposing me to whatever it was I needed to grow and develop. I would just say thank you to teachers out there for really making a difference. The people you’re educating today are going to be leading the world in just a few years, so thanks for all your hard work.

Bela Power: Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, if you had anything you would like to say to students, that teachers could share with their students?

Woody Hoburg: The thing that stands out to me is, we’re talking about rocketry today,  I know for me it’s almost random how I discovered rocketry. My parents bought a rocket kit at a hobby store and then I just slowly got interested. I was genuinely interested and excited about building rockets. The reason I bring that up, that it felt a bit random, is there’s just no “right” path. I think students today feel a lot of stress. They feel like there’s high expectations and they want to meet those expectations, and they want to know: what should I be doing? What should I be spending my time on so I can be most successful? And my message is don’t stress about that, just have fun and dig in, and explore things you are genuinely excited about. That is the path. It does not matter what specifically you work on, but just spend time on things you’re excited about, that’s going to cause you to be curious and want to learn more, and it’s going to cause you to be good at it because you’re going to be genuinely interested in it.

Bela Power: Great advice. I’m sure students would really appreciate hearing you telling them not to stress out anymore. I agree, there’s a lot of stress out there on these kids.

Woody Hoburg: Yeah, there’s too much stress in the world.

Bela Power: Yes, I agree. That’s all the questions I have for you. Again, thank you so much for taking time out of what I know is a very, very busy schedule. You’re an inspiration to teachers and students everywhere so thank you again for meeting with us today.

Woody Hoburg: Absolutely, Bela. Thank you very much.